Boost for home buyers as 'portal juggling' scam which inflates prices by 10pc is banned

House hunters have been given a boost as Britain's biggest estate agents are now banned from operating a scam called "portal juggling", which experts say inflates house prices by 10pc or more.

The Property Ombudsman, a redress scheme which represents most of the UK's estate agents, has rewritten its code of practice to ban the ruse which is used by many of them to make property appear more "in demand" than it really is.

Portal juggling is where estate agents frequently relist properties which have been on the market for some time, enabling them to hide price cuts and give the impression a property is new to the market when it is not.

For example, they could list a property for a few days on Rightmove or Zoopla and then remove it, before putting it back on a week later.

Estate agents caught relisting old properties by consumers or other agents could be prosecuted by trading standards and could even be banned from trading all together.

Earlier this year data company Propcision claimed that portal juggling was leading to some estate agents giving the impression they were listing 10 times more property than was actually available.

Data suggests there is a direct correlation between the amount of time properties are on the market before they are sold and how much buyers are willing to pay in relation to asking prices.

For example in London, where properties tend to be bought within a few weeks, almost one in two people pay the asking price or above, according to Hometrack data.

In Wales where properties often sit on the market for several months just 18pc of buyers pay the asking price or more.

Property experts welcomed the move which they said would help protect home buyer against "misleading" online information which could distort property prices by giving people a false sense of urgency among buyers.

Portal juggling is a trick used to fool people into thinking homes have only just come onto the marketCredit:
AFP

Mark Hayward, director at the National Association of Estate Agents, said: "This is excellent news and should provide a boost to consumers as this practice contradicts consumer protection regulations. as misleading that its new to the market. Gives a disproportionate share to that one agent.

"It is misleading and means people are not being told the full truth as agents can make it look like they are selling all their properties at asking price, even if they aren't. It gives buyers a false sense of urgency as they feel they have to move quickly to secure a purchase, which can lead to prices being inflated by 10pc or more."

Paula Higgins, chief executive at the HomeOwners Alliance, said: "Buying a house is the biggest purchase of people's life and they need to know the information they have is accurate when deciding whether to view and, most importantly, how to decide and negotiate the price.

"Without accurate information home buyers are at a big disadvantage and estate agents and their clients, the home seller are the winners. This isn't a level playing field. We're glad to see the regulator stepping in."